Nader slams Dems for having 2000 grudge

WASHINGTON, June 24 (UPI) -- Democratic leaders are still so angry about the 2000 election that they are keeping him from congressional testimony on issues, Ralph Nader charges.

Nader, 74, suggested he has been scapegoated for his Green Party presidential candidacy in the 2000 race which some observers feel played a key role in George W. Bush's victory over Al Gore. Nader responds that Democrats should start facing their own failings, The Washington Times reported Tuesday.

"They are so small-minded that to keep the myth up that it wasn't them that got Bush in the White House, it was Nader/LaDuke -- to keep that myth and sustain it in the public's mind, they can't possibly associate with me or have me testify. Even though they knew they blew it in 1,000 ways in '00 and '04," Nader said.

Nader won 2.7 percent of the national vote in 2000 and only 0.3 percent as an independent in 2004 when he appeared on the ballot in only 34 states.